What is a European Multi-Annual Cooperation project?

The VOICE project has been awarded a European “Multi-annual cooperation projects” grant. But what are these grants, and what kind of projects do they support?

The general aims of the European Union Culture programme are:

“[...] to enhance the cultural area shared by Europeans, which is based on a common cultural heritage, through the development of cooperation activities among cultural operators from eligible countries, with a view to encouraging the emergence of European citizenship.

The programme is aimed at three specific objectives:

•promotion of the transnational mobility of people working in the cultural sector,

•support for the transnational circulation of cultural and artistic works and products,

•promotion of intercultural dialogue.

[…] Cultural organisations are given support for projects to work together across borders and to create and implement cultural and artistic activities.

The thrust of this strand is to help organisations, such as theatres, museums, professional associations, research centres, universities, cultural institutes and public authorities from different countries participating in the ‘Culture’ programme to cooperate so that different sectors can work together and extend their cultural and artistic reach across borders.”

These ambitious aims are translated into specific programmes addressing different needs and objectives. The VOICE project is part of the “Strand 1.1, Multi-annual cooperation project”:

“The first category seeks to foster multi-annual, transnational cultural links by encouraging a minimum of six cultural operators from at least six eligible countries to cooperate and work within and across sectors to develop joint cultural activities over a period of three to five years. Funds of between a minimum of EUR 200 000 and a maximum of EUR 500 000 per year are available, but EU support is limited to a maximum of 50 % of the total eligible cost. The funding is intended to help set up or extend the geographical reach of a project and make it sustainable beyond the funding period.”